Nero Claudius Caesar (Nero) - C. Suetonius Tranquillus
[628] This description is no less exact than vivid. It was easy for
Nero to gain the nearest gate, the Nomentan, from the Esquiline quarter
of the palace, without much observation; and on issuing from it (after
midnight, it appears), the fugitives would have the pretorian camp so
close on their right hand, that they might well hear the shouts of the
soldiers.
[629] Decocta. Pliny informs us that Nero had the water he drank,
boiled, to clear it from impurities, and then cooled with ice.
[630] Wood, to warm the water for washing the corpse, and for the
funeral pile,
[631] This burst of passion was uttered in Greek, the rest was spoken in
Latin. Both were in familiar use. The mixture, perhaps, betrays the
disturbed state of Nero's mind.
[632] II. x. 535.
[633] Collis Hortulorum; which was afterwards called the Pincian Hill,
from a family of that name, who flourished under the lower empire. In
the time of the Caesars it was occupied by the gardens and villas of the
wealthy and luxurious; among which those of Sallust are celebrated. Some
of the finest statues have been found in the ruins; among others, that of
the "Dying Gladiator." The situation was airy and healthful, commanding
fine views, and it is still the most agreeable neighbourhood in Rome.
[634] Antiquarians suppose that some relics of the sepulchre of the
Domitian family, in which the ashes of Nero were deposited, are preserved
in the city wall which Aurelian, when he extended its circuit, carried
across the "Collis Hortulorum." Those ancient remains, declining from
the perpendicular, are called the Muro Torto.--The Lunan marble was
brought from quarries near a town of that name, in Etruria. It no longer
exists, but stood on the coast of what is now called the gulf of
Spezzia.--Thasos, an island in the Archipelago, was one of the Cyclades.
It produced a grey marble, much veined, but not in great repute.
[635] See c. x1i.
[636] The Syrian Goddess is supposed to have been Semiramis deified.
Her rites are mentioned by Florus, Apuleius, and Lucian.
[637] A.U.C. 821--A.D. 69.
[638] We have here one of the incidental notices which are so valuable
in an historian, as connecting him with the times of which he writes.
See also just before, c. lii.